State Senate OKs plan for term limits

Updated 11:02 pm, Tuesday, March 19, 2013

AUSTIN — Statewide elected officials, including the governor, would be limited to two consecutive terms in office under a proposed constitutional amendment approved 27-4 on Tuesday by the Texas Senate.

Gov. Rick Perry, Texas' longest-serving governor, and other current officeholders affected by the measure would be “grandfathered” and allowed to seek two more terms if it were enacted.

Senate Joint Resolution 13 by Sen. Kevin Eltife would require Texas House approval by a two-thirds vote before being put on a statewide ballot. If both chambers approved, the proposal would not require Perry's signature, only voter approval. If passed, it would apply only to officials in the state executive branch.

“I think it's likely to pass,” Villarreal said. “I think this is an idea that is worthy of adoption. Regardless, however, I think the governor's long tenure had made us come to appreciate how this limit will help balance power across different branches of government.”

Eltife, R-Tyler, said his proposal doesn't stem from concern about any current officeholder but is meant as a way to bring fresh ideas and a fresh perspective to government.

“No way, shape or form it has anything to do with Rick Perry. I just think government is better served with term limits,” Eltife said in an interview.

Perry succeeded George W. Bush as governor after the 2000 presidential election and has held the office ever since, thwarting the political ambitions of other Republicans in GOP-dominated Texas for more than a decade.

“The governor has always said Texas voters are the best determiners of how long they want an individual to serve,” Perry spokesman Josh Havens said.

Despite Eltife's protestations, Perry's long service is the undeniable elephant in the room when term limits are discussed.

“No Texas governor before Rick Perry ever served two full four-year terms consecutively, but Perry's threat to run for a fourth full term in 2014 opens the prospect of him serving as governor for eighteen years,” Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said. “This has everybody, including Sen. Eltife, wondering whether this is a good idea and whether future governors should have this option.”

Jillson said two-thirds of states restrict statewide elected officials to two four-year terms. He said Texas is one of a dozen that have four-year terms with no limit.

Lobbyist and consultant Bill Miller said, “Regardless of whether you say it is not about Perry, he is the poster boy for the bill.”

Miller was critical of the measure, saying it “is a candidate talent killer and enhances immeasurably the power of staff who are beyond the reach of voters.”

“Just as FDR's unprecedented tenure in office helped generate support for a two-term limit for the U.S. president, Perry's equally unprecedented tenure has bolstered the efforts of term limits advocates in Texas,” Jones said.

“One of the principal arguments of term limits supporters is that they are necessary to remove entrenched incumbents, and certainly the long tenure of several current statewide officeholders such as Perry and Dewhurst bolsters that argument,” Jones said.

Jones said he expects the bill to have a “pretty good chance” in the House.

“The only way that it probably doesn't survive is if the House leadership decides to bottle it up in committee and not allow it to make it to the floor,” Jones said, adding that he's not aware of any such intentions by House leaders.

“Once it gets to the ballot, it's close to a virtual certainty that it will be approved,” Jones said. “The 'yes' campaign is an easy campaign. They just have to campaign against politicians and claim term limits prevent entrenched career politicians.”

Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, spoke against the measure, saying it was improper to single out only the executive branch for term limits and emphasizing that voters already decide who stays in office.

“We already have term limits. It's called the ballot box,” Estes said.

The proposed constitutional amendment will empower voters to decide on the idea of term limits, Eltife said.

Estes sought to add an amendment to include the judiciary, but Eltife objected, saying the provision was not germane, and prevailed. Estes pulled down another amendment that would have included lawmakers, saying he saw which way the argument was going.

Estes said the amendments were an effort to kill the idea.

Eltife said he didn't include term limits for lawmakers in his proposal because he didn't think that lawmakers would approve the idea.

Offices that would be affected by term limits under the measure include governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, comptroller of public accounts, commissioner of the general land office, commissioner of agriculture, railroad commissioner, and attorney general.

The secretary of state, who's appointed by the governor, also is included in the measure. The measure wouldn't restrict nonconsecutive terms.